Hottest temperatures this year expected in North Texas
Bedford snow cone stand owner Michael Ledford would rather not see temperatures go over 100 degrees this week.
What?
Ledford, owner of Bud’s Snowballs in Bedford, said business actually drops off a little when temperatures rise to triple digits.
“I have just outside seating so some people don’t want to sit in that heat for a snow cone,” Ledford said Sunday. “I prefer the temperatures between 90 to 100 degrees.”
But forecasters said Ledford and the rest of North Texas could be in for a hot week, near or at 100 degrees in some counties.
“It’s going to be close on Monday,” meteorologist Amanda Schroeder of the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth said Sunday. “But it also will be close all week.”
Early Monday, the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth issued a special weather statement, saying the hottest temperatures of the year are expected Monday across North and Central Texas.
The heat index could reach 106 degrees in North and Central Texas on Monday, as temperatures will be in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees.
The daytime temperature Sunday reached 96 degrees. That’s as hot as it’s gotten in North Texas — that temperature was recorded June 10, according to the National Weather Service.
The record rainfall has helped keep things cool, though certainly muggier than usual. Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has recorded 36.50 inches of rain this year, which is 14.18 inches more than all of 2014.
The rain put a dent in Ledford’s snow cone business in May.
“I lost business in May,” said Ledford, who has operated Bud’s Snowballs at West Pipeline Road and Forest Ridge Drive in Bedford for the last nine years. “But June has been good.”
On good days, Ledford estimated his staff will serve 200 to 500 snow cones. Generally, Bud’s opens during spring break in March and operates until the end of October. June is the peak period for snow cones, he said.
But business drops off a little in July and August, when temperatures reach the baking point.
Forecasters are calling for temperatures near 100 degrees all week with morning lows in the 70s.
There’s no chance of rain for the next few days.
Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763
Triple-digit facts
Here's a look at 100-degree days in North Texas, by the numbers:
71 most days in a year (2011)
15 days in 2014 (first day was July 13)
0 fewest days in a year (1973, 1906)
42 most consecutive days (June 23-Aug. 3, 1980)
31 most days in a month (July 1980)
June 30 average first date
Aug. 26 average last date
March 9, 1911 earliest occurrence (100 degrees)
Oct. 3, 1951 latest occurrence (106 degrees)
Source: National Weather Service/Fort Worth
This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Hottest temperatures this year expected in North Texas."